Category: Sports

This week three match-up would have been my most anticipated game of the week if Jimmy Garoppolo hadn’t been hurt. He was though, so we’re going to see a rookie quarterback going against one of the scariest defensive lines in the game. For the Texans, Brock Osweiler makes enough throws to win a game, and Lamar Miller is severely underrated, even with his new contract. The Patriots D is good, but not good enough to make up for Brissett’s first game.

FINAL- Texans 24- Patriots 16

CARDINALS (1-1) AT BILLS (0-2)

The Cardinals are a Super Bowl contender, even after a week one loss at home to the Patriots. The Bills are not. Carson Palmer has weapons galore. Tyrod Taylor has an injured Sammy Watkins and…. I’ve got nothing. Patrick Peterson shuts down Watkins, and we see another Arizona Blowout.

FINAL- Cardinals 42- Bills 16

RAIDERS (1-1) AT TITANS (1-1)

This game is disappointing to me. I wish we could have seen this one in week 8 or 9. This is a match-up of two up and coming teams with vastly different styles. Oakland will try and stretch you vertically with Amari Cooper and Michael Crabtree. The Titans will beat you by exhausting you with repeated runs up the middle and a few play-action fakes a game. Titans run game beat’s Oakland’s pass game. And the Titans D is better than Oakland’s overall.

FINAL- Titans 20- Raiders 14

BROWNS (0-2) AT DOLPHINS (0-2)

The Dolphins might be the most frustrating team in football. For two quarters they look like the best team in the game, and for the other two quarters, they look like the worst. Oh, look at that! The Dolphins play the actual worst team in football this week! Corey Coleman is fun to watch, but that’s about it for Cleveland, and on top of that, he broke his hand. Yay Cleveland.

FINAL- Dolphins 27- Browns 17

RAVENS (2-0) AT JAGUARS (0-2)

Mike Wallace was one of the more underrated pickups in football this offseason. The guy is a burner off the edge, and Joe Flacco can get him the ball a couple times a game. Blake Bortles is like a young Flacco. The arm strength, the mobility, the touch, but not the decision making. The Allen’s should have a bounce back game as well. At some point I’m going to look dumb for continuing to support the Jaguars, but I’m sticking with them for now.

FINAL- Jaguars 31- Ravens 27

LIONS (1-1) AT PACKERS (1-1)

The Lions dropped a tough one last week to the Titans, but don’t put the blame on Stafford. You’re not going to win a game when you commit that many penalties. The Packers lost to the Vikings on MNF, so they come into this one on short rest. At some point, Aaron Rodgers will look like Aaron Rodgers again, and when it happens, everyone who doubted him is going to look silly. I think that happens this week.

FINAL- Packers 24- Lions 17

BRONCOS (2-0) AT BENGALS (1-1)

Poor Bengals. Back to back against bruising defenses, and top AFC contenders. AJ Green got shut down last week, but here’s to saying that it won’t happen again. The Broncos have already handled Cam Newton and Andrew Luck. Unfortunately for the Bengals, Andy Dalton isn’t on their level. Bengals lose another close one.

FINAL- Broncos 20- Bengals 18

VIKINGS (2-0) AT PANTHERS (1-1)

I’ve been saying it since the preseason. The Vikings have the best defense in football. They’re 2014 Seahawks good. Super Cam made an appearance last week though, and Kelvin Benjamin is the difference maker that he needs. Plus you can never forget about Greg Olsen. And I haven’t even mentioned Peterson’s injury yet.

FINAL- Panthers 23- Vikings 16

REDSKINS (0-2) AT GIANTS (2-0)

If there’s a must win game this week, the Redskins are looking at it. The Eagles and the Giants are off to undefeated starts, and the Redskins need this one against a division rival. Unfortunately, they’re not going to get it. Eli Manning has too many weapons with the emergence of Sterling Shepherd, and Janoris Jenkins is already living up to his contract.

FINAL- Giants 37- Redskins 21

RAMS (1-1) AT BUCCANEERS (1-1)

Yes, I’m biased against the Rams. But last week’s matchup against Seattle was a typical Rams game. Beat up a bad offensive line, make a few good throws, and hope the special teams can win you a game. The Bucs made me look bad last week, but it won’t happen again. With Doug Martin hurt, look for Jameis Winston to abuse a slow-starting Rams secondary.

FINAL- Buccaneers 25, Rams 13

49ERS (1-1) AT SEAHAWKS (1-1)

I told you the 49ers were better than people thought this year. Here’s the chance to prove it. The worst line in football, with an injured Russell Wilson? Blaine Gabbert gets replaced at the half by Colin Kaepernick, who leads the comeback win.

FINAL- 49ers 17- Seahawks 10

JETS (1-1) AT CHIEFS (1-1)

I like the Jets this year. The offense can spread the ball to all of its playmakers, and the defensive line is the deepest in football. The Chiefs on the other hand, brought back Captain Checkdown last week in Alex Smith. Jamaal Charles is back, Spencer Ware is good, but Revis shuts down Maclin, and that’s where the game is decided.

FINAL- Jets 27- Chiefs 17

CHARGERS (1-1) AT COLTS (0-2)

Melvin Gordon. Where were you last year? Gordon’s emergence gives this team the balance it needs. Travis Benjamin is showing his game-breaking abilities as well. For the Colts, the defense is just too bad for Andrew Luck to carry every game. Is it a stretch to call this my upset of the week? Technically the Chargers come in to this one as the underdogs.

FINAL- Chargers 31- Colts 27

STEELERS (2-0) AT EAGLES (2-0)

The only undefeated match-up this week except for TNF, I’m expecting a blowout in this one. The Eagles line is good, but it’s not that good. Carson Wentz hasn’t seen a defense like the Steelers yet either. Big Ben on the other hand, has unknown guys like Sammie Coates stepping up and putting up monster numbers. The Steelers depth is scary. They’re winning the Super Bowl this year.

FINAL- Steelers 34- Eagles 17

BEARS (0-2) AT COWBOYS (1-1)

Watching Monday Night Football last weekend was illuminating. As a former Rams fan, I now realize that Chicago fans have it just as bad right now. No Jay Cutler makes this worse. Or better. Your choice. The Cowboys on the other hand, could be 2-0 if Terrance Williams understood basic football rules. Dak Prescott uses the play-action threat of Ezekial Elliott to put up big numbers against a Swiss cheese defense.

FINAL- Cowboys 28- Bears 17

FALCONS (1-1) AT SAINTS (0-2)

Monday Night Football this week features two explosive offenses from the NFC South. I think the Saints defense showed something last week against the Giants. They only gave up 16 points to Eli Manning and co. The Falcons have given up an average of 29.5 points a game. Drew Brees’ offense gets there at the half to pull the Saints out of the winless ranks.

I woke up this morning pretty depressed. My Bears just got killed on Monday Night Football last night by the Philadelphia Eagles. The offensive line could not block, Jay Cutler was turning the ball over left and right, injuries were piling up, Jeremy Langford ran for only 28 yards… It was a brutal night. The Bears were three point favorites against a rookie quarterback and a head coach who was coaching high school football eight years ago, and got completely out played. It was a tough night.

This mourning I put on Chicago sports radio, read the Chicago Tribune sports section, read Twitter, and looked at NFL power rankings and everybody was down on the Bears. People have the Bears season over already after two games. Chris Simms of Bleacher Report, had the Bears ranked as the 32nd team in the NFL. Dan Bernstein declared the season over and was thinking about firing General Manager Ryan Pace and Head Coach John Fox already.

And here is what Bears fans need to hear… This team is going to be fine. Last year the Houston Texans started their season 0-2 then 1-4. Their starting quarterback Brain Hoyer got pulled at halftime in the first game of the season. Their team looked like a complete dumpster fire after getting killed by the Atlanta Falcons on a Thursday Night Football game in Week 4. However the Texans finished their last eight games 6-2 and made the playoffs. Last year the Kansas City Chiefs started their season 1-5, lost their star running back Jamaal Charles to an ACL tear and still made it to the AFC Division Round. And the biggest example of all is the 2014 New England Patriots. The Patriots were 2-1 going into Week 4 against the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday Night Football. The Chiefs beat the Patriots 41-14 and everybody overreacted. Boston fans were thinking about trading Tom Brady and going with Jimmy Garoppolo. Trent Dilfer an ESPN analyst said after the game, “We saw a weak team. The New England Patriots, let’s face it. They’re not good anymore.” The Patriots ended up winning the Super Bowl that year. You get the picture. Fans and analysts, especially in big sports towns, love to overreact.

Have the Bears looked bad the last two games? Yes. Is the season over? No. John Fox is a good coach. Vic Fangio is one of the best defensive coordinators in the league. This team needs time to figure it out. Their offensive line was reshuffled and two players switched positions five games before the season. The 2014 Bears season was one of the worst years of my life. That team had playoff and Super Bowl expectations and completely faltered. However, this team is not going to crumble like that one. John Fox is a way better coach than Marc Trestman and Vic Fangio is on a different planet than Mel Tucker.

It does not look good right now but it’s better that what happened last night happened in Week 2 rather than if it happened in Week 11.

Maybe I’m wrong and the Bears go on to win three games this year and compete for the #1 draft pick. However, do not call a season “over” after just two games because previous years of the NFL have proved that to be an overreaction.

The Southern Illinois Saluki football team played host to the Murray State Racers on family weekend. So the Dawgs wanted to give all the families a good game. Well they did just that by destroying the Racers 50-17 to put them at a record of 2-1. It was also the 6th annual blackout cancer game as all of the players showed their support of cancer.

Freshman D.J. Davis started things off by returning the opening kickoff 98 yards for the first touchdown of the game and the Saluki’s rolled from there. Although D.J. knew this win was not just for him, it was also for his family and especially his Aunt Lisa, who was shot and killed last week. He thanked his blockers and coaches and dedicated this return to his aunt. Here’s what Davis said about the return. Davis stated “We’ve been practicing that all week, “I just said to myself, ‘If they kick it to us, we need to take it to the house.” That is exactly what Davis did and the Saluki’s have been rolling from there.

The team was able to click on all cylinders. Josh Straughan threw for 289 and 4 touchdowns. Those 4 touchdowns were the most since Mark Ionnatti threw 4 touchdowns against the Indiana Hoosiers in September of 2015. That ties Starughan for third in most passing touchdowns in a single game in SIU history and marks the 18th time a saluki quarterback has thrown 4 touchdowns or more in a single contest. The Saluki’s were able to build up a 24-10 lead after the first quarter, and had a 38-10 lead at halftime. The running game for the Saluki’s was on point as Daquan Isom ran for over 100 yards and Cameron Walter was able to shut the door for the Saluki’s by having a 50-yard touchdown run give the Saluki’s a safe 50-17 lead. The defense was playing lockdown on the Racers all night. Chase Allen had ten tackles which tied him with Tom Anderson for 17th on the Salukis all-time list with 276 tackles.

For the Racers it was a down night, even though the offense did look pretty average, they still could not find their swagger as this loss drops them to 0-3 on the season.

The Saluki’s will have a bye week this week, but they will start Missouri Valley Conference play the following week at Northern Iowa on October 1st 2016 at 4pm and the Racers will open up Ohio Valley Conference play by hosting South East Missouri State next Saturday September 24th at 6pm.